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Davos 2024: How YouTube CEO plans to tackle deepfakes
As artificial intelligence (AI) pervades every aspect of our lives, public concerns over deepfakes and AI-generated content are increasing. With a busy election year ahead, these problems are likely to worsen.
YouTube’s chief has a plan (or seems to be developing one!)
Driving the news
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan told us that the company will be "incredibly vigilant" in combating misinformation and deepfakes.
YouTube, in recent months, announced policies that require creators to disclose AI-generated content and to crack down on AI-generated crime deepfakes. It will also soon enable the removal of AI-generated or other synthetic or altered content from the platform.
"A combination of being both bold and responsible is going to be our approach here. It will of course apply to elections in places like India and throughout the world, but also more generally," Mohan said.
Stricter IT rules
These remarks come at a time when Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the government would be notifying stricter IT Rules in the next seven days to address the issue of deepfakes on social media platforms.
- The government has previously issued multiple advisories to social media companies to remove such content from their platforms, for which the compliance has been "mixed", the minister said yesterday
More highlights from Davos:
- Sunil Mittal, Chairperson of Bharti Enterprises, said that a third term for the BJP-led NDA government would benefit the investor and business community by ensuring continuity in infrastructure, ease of doing business, and investments. Find out more
- While the Indian government is in talks with Tesla to attract the electric vehicle maker to set up manufacturing in the country, any incentive mechanisms brought by the government will apply to all players in the space, said Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Find out more
- The Karnataka government signed Rs 22,000 crore worth of MoUs with seven companies including Microsoft, Web Werks and Hitachi, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Find out more
- Most economies are growing in ways that are neither sustainable nor inclusive and are limited in their ability to absorb or generate innovation and minimise their contribution and susceptibility to global shocks, according to a WEF report. Find out more
Prefer video? Check out our daily Davos bulletin that brings you the top highlights from Day 3 of the World Economic Forum.
IBM chief Arvind Krishna praises India’s AI vision
AI stands out as the predominant theme at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, with India receiving special mention among global leaders whenever the scope of the AI opportunity is discussed.
Driving the news
IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna drew parallels between the current boom in artificial intelligence and the Industrial Revolution.
Krishna believes that a majority of the workforce deploying AI will come from India.
To be sure, around 80% of IBM’s R&D workforce in India is responsible for developing its flagship AI platform, Watson X.
Altman vs Benioff
Meanwhile, Time magazine's owner and CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, called out AI companies for using the intellectual properties of other companies to build their technology.
Time magazine, among other publications, is currently negotiating with ChatGPT's owner, OpenAI, to license its work.
However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman presents a contrasting viewpoint.
- He contends that the value of training data is often overestimated by its owners
Altman sees partnerships with news outlets as an opportunity to develop new ways to consume and monetise news.
Expanding universe of Gen AI
During a panel discussion at the WEF with AI luminaries on the future of generative models, Turing Award-winning computer scientist Yann LeCun, often hailed as one of the "Godfathers of AI," said that Language Models (LLMs) are not sufficiently advanced to capture sensory information.
- LeCun pointed out that while the world is running low on internet data for processing, it would still take 200,000 years for anyone to consume the existing data
He said that the next frontier lies in acquiring sensory and visual data.
Europe outperforms North America for Indian IT in Q3
The winds of change are blowing for Indian IT giants.
While the North American market, the bread and butter, remains lacklustre, Europe has emerged as a surprising champion, driving growth for the sector.
Driving the news
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro, the top four Indian IT players, all saw their European revenues surge in the December quarter.
- TCS' UK business grew by 8.1%, while Infosys' European share jumped over 9%
- HCLTech reported a flat revenue share from Europe at 29%
Wipro secured four large deals in Europe during Q3, adding nearly $300 million in bookings. However, the company experienced a slight dip of almost 4% in revenue share from the European region.
- The North American market usually contributes around 60% to the total revenue for most IT companies, and Europe in the 30% range
What’s fueling this boom?
Large project wins and subsiding effects of the Russia-Ukraine war are fueling the European boom.
- The uncertain economic climate is also pushing companies to prioritise cost efficiency
IT firms are capitalising on this trend by offering cost-takeout deals that optimize operations and reduce spending.
Tell me more
While it is still too early to say that the IT sector is out of the woods, encouraging early signs have emerged, as pointed out by company executives themselves.
- Experts say demand is expected to bounce back for IT companies in the H2CY24
- Demand outlook improving but low visibility of discretionary spends
- Demand to bounce back irrespective of interest rate cuts in the US
Find out more
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